PhD supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students working in international political economy or international relations, with a focus on global environmental politics, the role of business and other nonstate actors in world politics, global governance, international risk regulation, or other areas related to my current research interests.

If you are interested in pursuing a PhD project under my supervision, you will need to apply through the LSE Graduate Admissions Office. Further guidance on the application process is available here. You may wish you send me an outline of your research project in advance of your formal application, although I cannot promise to give detailed feedback on such outlines.

Your research outline (ca. 3-4 pages) should ideally address the following questions:

What is your central research question?

How do you propose to answer this question? What theoretical and/or empirical work do you expect to undertake (e.g. case studies)?

How does your research project relate to relevant academic debates or literatures in International Political Economy or International Relations? What likely contribution do you expect to make to such debates or literatures?

What research methodology do you expect to employ in your project?

Image credit: Dalhousie University

Please remember that a PhD thesis project is a peculiar piece of academic writing, lasting three to four years, and that not all research questions or ideas are suitable for a PhD project. It is best to avoid speculative, future-oriented or policy-focused questions (e.g. "Is the precautionary principle going to play a more important role in future world politics?" or "Should Europe aim for greater energy independence?").

Recently supervised PhD projects:

Marian Feist: "Learning in International Negotiations: The Strategic Use of Lessons in Post-Agreement Climate Finance Politics" (2018).

Michael Bloomfield: "Collaboration through contestation: explaining the causes and consequences of variation in corporate responses to civil society pressure within the US market for gold jewellery" (2012)

Richard Campanaro: "Socio-Ecological Coevolution: an ecological analysis of the historical development of international systems in the circumpolar Arctic" (2012) (co-supervised with Barry Buzan)

Nico Jaspers: "Silent Divergence: Explaining Nanotechnology Risk Governance in the US and the EU" (2011)